Jacob Riis Directory

In the 1880's an American reporter, Jacob Riis recognized the importance of the role photography could play in providing evidence for his stories on the immigrant slums. Riis wanted to show how bad the living conditions were for the immigrants and found that words alone made little impression on his readers and as drawings were not regarded as evidence in the 1880's, his camera became his tool of action.

Most people living in New York did not share Riis's concern for immigrants. The common view held by the middle/upper class was that the poor were "responsible for having brought upon themselves poverty by their indolence and immorality". Jacob Riis felt that if only the people could see the true conditions, then maybe they would help him campaign for better conditions. "The sights I saw there gripped my heart until I felt I must tell of them or burst".

In 1890 Riis published his first book 'How the Other Half Lives'. The book had seventeen halftone reproductions of photographs and nineteen wood engravings. In the introduction Riis wrote: "The story is dark enough, drawn from the plain public records, to send a chill to any heart. If it shall appear that the sufferings and the sins of the 'other half' and the evil they breed, are but a just punishment upon the community that gave it no other choice, it will be because that is the truth." 'How the Other Half Lives' was so successful that it went through eleven printings in five years.

Biographies

Spartacus Biography of Jacob Riis

Wikipedia: Jacob Riis

Harvard University Library

University of Virginia

The Richmond Hill Historical Society

Jacob Riis by Robert Leggat

Focusdep

The University of Illinois: Jacob Riis's Reform Photography